


Everything was beautiful

by writersneverdie



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Suprise Visit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-15
Updated: 2013-01-15
Packaged: 2017-11-25 14:30:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/639837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writersneverdie/pseuds/writersneverdie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeff woke up and it was a Monday. He pushes the snooze button because that’s what he does on Mondays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything was beautiful

Jeff woke up and it was a Monday. He pushes the snooze button because that’s what he does on Mondays.

When his phone starts to ring before the snooze goes off again he groans because this is not part of the routine. He doesn’t make a move to answer. The phone eventually stops and he digs his head into his pillow to wait for the alarm. He thinks he probably has another 8 minutes.

The phone starts ringing again. He huffs, he puffs and he picks the phone up off the side table looking at it. He rolls his eyes at the screen before sliding to answer.

“Fuck you.”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, I called so early. I know that this probably cuts into your freaky Monday morning routine but I have a good reason.”

Jeff buries his face back in the pillow lying the phone down on his ear.

“I have another 5 minutes.”

“Fuck you too, by the way. Do you want to hear why I called?”

“Gabe, can you call back in 5 minutes? My alarm goes off in 5 minutes.” He is slurring his speech and wants to be in the snooze zone right now.

“Come on, Skins. I have good news and no, I can’t call you back in 5 minutes because I am currently boarding an airplane.”

“Whaddumean? I thought you had an off day.” His brain is starting to wake up but he’s not ready to open his eyes yet. He won’t open them again until his alarm goes off.

“Exactly. I have an off day. I will be in Raleigh in approximately 2 hours and 48 minutes.”

“Fuck you.”

“What is up with you right now? I’m serious. I might just walk off this flight right now if say that to me one more time.”

“Why couldn’t you have waited until my alarm went off to tell me this?” It has to be going off soon. He can feel it.

“I thought your alarm went off at 7:30? I waited until 7:35 to call you.”

“It’s Monday.”

“I know. On Monday’s you read the newspaper.”

“No. Tuesday’s. On Monday’s I press snooze and wake up at 7:45.”

“You’re such a freak. Well, I’m sorry I interfered but it’s 7:45 now, so good morning?”

He finally feels his phone start to vibrate against his face. He opens his eyes and says, “good morning. What time do you need me to pick you up?”

“10. I’m flying Delta.”

“I’ll see you then. You’re really coming?” He hasn’t seen Gabe since the last time they played against each other. That was 2 months ago.

“Yea, Jeff, I’m really coming. Gotta go.”

“I can’t wait to see you.” He’s officially awake now. Out of bed even.

“You, too. Love ya.”

“You too.”  
_______________________

Gabe had planned on catching his off day sleep he decided to give up when he made the impulse decision to jump on an airplane but the little old lady he sat next to more or less talked his ear off. She was very sweet and endearing. Gabe tried to send her a lot of “I’m not in the mood to talk” signals in the first half hour of the flight but gave up when she didn’t catch on to any of them. Not a one.

This happens to him a lot on flights. If he gets seated next to any woman over than age of 45, he spends the duration of the flight listening to their life stories. He is usually happy to talk and at times will share details about his life. It’s nice to talk to people outside of the NHL world he is immersed in at all times but today he could have gone for some shut eye. He only had 12 hours with Jeff before he had to jump on a flight back to Colorado and he wanted to be fully rested for it. Such is life for an young and attractive Swedish boy.

Jeff is standing outside his car, leaning against it with both his arms and his legs crossed. He has his official interview hat on and Gabe looks back and forth between his biceps and his dimples until he gets close enough he say “hey” and grab Jeff in an enormous hug.

“I missed you, holy shit,” Jeff says into his neck. Gabe can feel Jeff breathe him in.

“How long do we have?” Jeff asks him after he pulls himself away and opens the passenger door of his car for Gabe.

“My flight back leaves at 10:45, so about 11 hours.”

“What were you thinking we would do?” He didn’t know what he expected of the day. He didn’t care, truly, what they did or didn’t do. He just wanted to spend the next 11 hours with Jeff Skinner.

“Um,” he says as he reaches across the console to grab Jeff’s hand, “whatever. What did you have planned today?”

Jeff glances at him with a smile on his face. “I have an optional skate that I was going to go to, but now I am thinking that maybe I won’t.”

“You sure?” Jeff is merging onto the highway so he doesn’t look at Gabe but he can tell from the dimples and the squeeze of his hand that Jeff is just as relieved as he is that they are together.

“Yea, my legs have been a little dead the last few days anyways. How does some brunch sound?” He sneaks a glance at Gabe at the end of his sentence.

“Great. I’m starving.”  
____________

They spend the drive to the diner catching up about their seasons, the dressing room pranks and stories, how their families are doing. They talk on the phone a few times a week but they mostly communicate by text message so it's nice to actually be able to catch up. They have such different schedules and routines and roommates and reporters that texting is their best bet.

At the diner they eat and chat about keeping in shape during the season and the best places to eat in each city. Every few minutes Gabe kicks Jeff under the table to have some physical contact but also to make Jeff smile. He cannot get enough of seeing it, he has to drink up as much as he can get in this little window of time.

They’ve finished eating and the waiter cleared their plates. Jeff put his credit card down to play the bill and Gabe doesn’t argue.

“So, what did you have planned for the rest of the day,” he asks Jeff after the waiter walks away with the bill.

“Well, I actually have some annoying shit I have to do today.”

“Yea?”

“Yea, I have to go to the tailor because I need a new suit. My appointment is at 1. Then I have to go to the rink for some commercial shoot or some shit. They said it wouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to actually shoot but I gotta get in full gear and hair and makeup and all the shit so I am guessing it will take at least an hour.” Jeff groans and looks at Gabe apologetically as if he just ran over his cat.

“Oh, I know how that goes. Anything after that?” Gabe knew when he got on the airplane that there was a good chance that Jeff wasn’t actually going to have any free time today. Teams usually schedule a lot of shit for off days. Gabe had one of those rare ones today where coach told them to “get your mind off hockey for the day, I don’t want to see any of you here” and he just couldn’t resist.

“Nope, then I am all yours. Let’s go, you can come to the tailor’s with me.” Jeff signs the credit card receipt (leaving the guy at $15 tip on there $20 food) and pulls Gabe out of the booth. He let’s their hands linger together for a few extra seconds and Gabe takes another sip of the dimples.

Gabe spends the hour at the tailor’s ogling Jeff’s thighs and ass and shoulders. He also shops around a bit looking at the shirts and the ties and the cuff links. He buys himself a tie and surreptitiously gets Jeff one, too. He could see him eying it when they walked in.

He’s kind of jealous of the tailor because he has his hands all over Jeff. On his arms and his thighs and his waist and even his inner thigh. This guy has copped more feels on his boyfriend than he has today, or yesterday, or for the last 2 months. Gabe takes a bathroom break after the measuring and has to talk himself (and his dick) down.

The last time the saw each other the Hurricanes were playing in Colorado. They flew in early so they had a full day in Denver before the game the next day. Jeff had immediately hopped a cab over to Gabe’s with no explanation to any of his teammates. Gabe had pushed Jeff up against the door the moment it closed in a crushing, messy kiss. They kissed and kissed against the door and eventually started to make their way to Gabe’s bedroom shedding their clothes as they went (they spent a good ten minutes after everything looking for Jeff’s t-shirt which had somehow landed in the kitchen sink).

When they made it onto the bed, naked and painfully turned on, Jeff stopped them.

“Wait. Wait. We can’t, we have a game tomorrow. We can’t have sex.”

Gabe threw himself up onto the bed dramatically. “You couldn’t have said that, like I don’t know, 25 minutes ago? You’re the cock block to end all cock blocks.” He is sprawled out on his bed and Jeff has started pacing back and forth across the bedroom.

“FUCK!” Jeff yells when he glances at Gabe on the bed. “Okay. We can, like, jack off. Yea, that’s it. We can do that. I’ll just sit in this chair over here. And you stay there.” Gabe’s boner had already begun to fade so he kind of just wants to put his clothes back on.

Jeff is still raring to go and sits down in the chair in the corner of Gabe’s room, “Come on, Gabe, come on. You looked so hot laying on your bed.”

Gabe thinks about it for a minute, not yet touching himself. He makes a decision and gets up off the bed walking over to Jeff and kissing him. When Jeff starts to protest he moves to his kiss his ear.

“Skins,” Gabe whispers, “I don’t care about the game tomorrow.” He feels Jeff shiver underneath him. He moves to the other ear, “I want you to fuck me.”

Jeff groans and says, “we can’t, we can’t, you have to play tomorrow and it’s been so long, and we just can’t.”

Gabe takes Jeff’s face in his hands, gives him a quick kiss on the lips, “just be gentle and we can. We have to. You have to, Jeff. I can’t play tomorrow if we don’t. I love you.” Gabe had never felt so needy, so completely sure that he needed Jeff to fuck him right now. He didn’t exactly like the feeling but he just knew this is what he needed, what Jeff needed.

“I love you, too. Okay, okay, I’ll be so gentle, I promise, now go back and lie on the bed like you were before.”

Gabe is fully hard again. He backs away from Jeff and doesn’t break eye contact with him as he walks backwards towards the bed. Once he makes it there he climbs back onto the bed and motions for Jeff to join him. He does.

____________

After they leave the tailor’s they have 20 minutes before Jeff needs to be at the shoot. They decide to go get some smoothies at a shop right near the rink. Jeff has walked by it a million times but never gone in. They get their drinks, which are delicious, and walk to the rink. Jeff gives Gabe the keys to his car to use while he is busy and tells him about some places he might enjoy.

They enter the rink through a small entrance on the backside of the building. Jeff knows none of his teammates will be coming in this way since they will all be coming from the parking garage.

Jeff beeps them into the door with his access key. He stops before entering the second door, turns towards Gabe and says, “Why are we doing this?”

“The commercial? It’s just part of the job, Skins,” Gabe responds but he knows that isn’t what Jeff means. He knows the tone of Jeff’s voice has changed into something much more serious.

“No. This. Me and you. Do you ever wonder if it’s worth it?” Jeff says loud and angry.

“Do I think about how much the distance sucks and if we will be able to make it work because of that? Yes. But if it’s worth it? No,” Gabe responds calmly.

“Fuck you. You’re in Colorado and I’m here and we never see each other and it’s going to be like this for a long time, Gabriel. A long time.” He’s pacing around the vestibule and pulling at his hair. Gabe wants to grab his arms to make him stop. Wants to give him a hug and remind him why but he knows better and he stays put.

“Come on, Jeff, you know this is worth it. You know it.”

“I’m not so sure, Gabe. How are you so sure?” Jeff makes to punch the wall but stops himself before he makes contact with the brick. “We haven’t even touched each other in two months. Who goes two months without touching their boyfriend?”

“That’s just the way it is, that’s just the lifestyle we live.” Gabe is trying to stay calm but he is scratching the car keys in his pocket into his thigh in frustration.

“Exactly, Gabe, fucking exactly. This is our lives.” Jeff throws his hands up into the air and then squats down leaning against the wall across from Gabe.

“Look, Jeff,” Gabe starts to say but gets interrupted by Jeff’s phone ringing. Jeff pulls it out of his pocket.

“It’s Staal. I gotta go, I’m late.” Jeff stands up and walks over to Gabe. He puts his hand high on Gabe’s shoulder.

“Call me when you’re done?” Gabe says, hands still in his pockets.

“Yea, yea, I’ll call you,” Jeff says pushing Gabe’s shoulder hard sending him into the wall and then walks out of the entryway.  
____________

Gabe left the rink in a daze. He wandered until he found a little coffee shop. He orders a green tea and buys a newspaper and sit down at a table near the window. He sets the paper down on the table but doesn’t open it. He puts a packet of sugar in his tea and looks out the window watching the people walk by.

When they first started officially dating Gabe knew this wasn’t going to be easy. He tried to explain that to Jeff, tried to tell him what they were getting into but he was so excited and cute and in love that he didn’t want to hear it. He would just say, “it doesn’t matter, Gabe. None of it matters.”

The NHL and the schedule and the success and the atmosphere has jaded him a little bit, made him rough around the edges. Cute, naive, Jeff still lived but now it was covered in a few layers of grown up.

Gabe sees an old couple walk by the window. The man is walking with a cane in one hand and his wife in the other. They aren’t talking to each other, they’re just walking. Walking down the street with each other. They’ve probably been doing this exact activity together for the last 50 years. It puts a smile on Gabe’s face. He watches them until he can’t anymore and then opens up the sports section.

He get all the way through sports and half way through variety when his phone rings.

“Hey.”

“Gabe, hey. I’m, I’m done here,” Jeff says quietly.

“How’d it go?”

“Um, good. Where are you?” Gabe glances up at the menu of the coffee shop.

“I’m at this coffee shop not too far from the rink. It’s called ‘Brewed.’ It’s maybe like three blocks away?”

“Yea, yea, I know where you are. Stay there. I’m on my way.” The line goes dead a second later.

Gabe continues to read the variety section. About 10 minutes later he sees Jeff enter the shop and break a little smile when he sees Gabe.

He walks over to the table Gabe is sitting at and sits down. “You look like an old man with your tea and your newspaper.”

“Yea? You think so?” Gabe can’t help but beam at Jeff as he closes up the newspaper.

Jeff grabs his thigh underneath the table and leans his body across the small table.

“I’m sorry,” Jeff starts clenching his hand a little tighter around his thigh, “about earlier. I am just, like, frustrated and I didn’t mean it.”

Gabe brings his hand underneath the table and rests it on Jeff’s. “I know, J. I know you didn’t mean it.”

Jeff finally relaxes his hand and his body. “Want to go back to my place?”

“Fuck yes,” Gabe responds, “I’m driving.”  
____________

They stop at the grocery store on the way home to pick up some stuff so Jeff can make them dinner. He makes a fairly decent lemon pepper chicken.

After all the groceries are put away and the oven is set to preheat they sit down on the couch and start watching a movie on HBO. Jeff puts his arm around Gabe, who settles his head low on Jeff’s shoulder. They watch like that for awhile until Gabe just can’t help himself anymore and he starts to kiss his way up Jeff’s neck.

They lazily make out on the couch until Jeff has to get up and put the food in the oven. When he comes back they pick up where they left off. The kisses are mostly lazy but sweet, open mouthed and passionate but motivated by love and familiarity.

When the buzzer goes off to alert them that dinner is ready Gabe sets the table while Jeff puts the finishing touches on. They eat with long looks and comfortable silence. When they’re done Gabe washes and Jeff dries.

After it is all said and done it’s 8:30.

“So, it looks like we have 2 more hours,” Jeff says pointing at the clock on the microwave. Gabe is sitting on the middle island and Jeff fits himself between his thighs.

“You have me for two more hours,” Gabe says massaging Jeff’s head in his hands, “what do you want to do with me?” He loves doing this because it makes Jeff purr like a kitten.

Jeff doesn’t responds for 30 seconds, a minute. Finally he raises his head back up and looks at Gabe, gives him a quick peck on the lips, “I have a game tomorrow.”

“I do, too,” Gabe mumbles right against Jeff’s lips. They kiss for a while like that with Gabe on the counter top. He’s got his arms around Jeff’s neck, his hands on his shoulders. Jeff is hugging around his waist, hard and pulling them closer and closer together.

Gabe finally pulls a little away and whispers, “it’s okay if we don’t do anything. I’m okay with this.”

Jeff rests his forehead on Gabe’s shoulder for a minute, thinking. “Let’s take a shower,” he finally says.

“A shower?”

“Yea, on nights before a game I usually jack off in the shower thinking about you, so now I want to jack off in the shower WITH you.” Jeff pulls Gabe off the counter top and takes his hand. “How does that sound?”

Gabe pulls a smiling Jeff out of the kitchen and towards the bathroom, “sounds amazing, Skins.”  
_______________

On the flight back home the plane is fairly empty so Gabe gets an entire row to himself. He’s glad to be able to get some sleep in hopes that his schedule isn't messed up too much for the game tomorrow.

About two rows in front of him there is an old couple who sit right next to each other even though they have all three seats to themselves. The old man had heaved his wife’s heavy bag up into the overhead compartment and got a kiss on the cheek in thanks. The man catches Gabe staring at him before he sits down and winks at him. Gabe smiles back.

When Gabe gets up to go to the bathroom to he walks past the couple and takes a quick picture. The wife has her head on her husband’s shoulder, fast asleep. Their hands are clasped on the husband’s lap, he is also fast asleep in his seat.

When they land he sends the picture to Jeff with the caption “can’t wait to be old together.”


End file.
